Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Nintendo 3DS is Official: Set to Blow Your Mind

We've been reading about it for what seems like ages, looking over images of the FCC prototypewith a magnifying glass, and now Nintendo is showing it off at its E3 press conference. Nintendo is trumping up how superior its glasses-free technology is better than others, "a solution that lets you take 3D gaming along with you wherever you go" according to Reggie. The upper screen is surprisingly only 3.5-inches, not the wider that we'd expected, There is a slider on the side that lets you tweak the 3D effect, seemingly enabling you to tweak based on your distance from the screen -- or turn it off entirely. As with the current DS, the bottom is a touchscreen, and is not 3D.

That's what looks to be an analog stick on the side there, as well, that Nintendo is calling a "Slide Pad." There is a gyro, motion sensor, compatible with DSi games, and two cameras enabling 3D photos. Nintendo is also talking up partnerships, including Disney, games that are said to be playable today, at the show, with one of the highlights being a new Kid Icarus game which looks quite action-packed to say the least and, has better graphics than most of the Wii games Nintendo has shown thus far.

Nintendo is also talking about how the system will seek out WiFi hotspots or other 3DS systems "without you knowing," which sounds a bit ominous, to be honest. Systems can communicate regardless of which games are being played. It can even pull in new DLC directly from other consoles, all without a monthly fee.